Soundwalk series turns Portland’s parks into audio art galleries

In many ways, this year has been defined by a sense of isolation. We’ve been kept apart from the people we care most about, and from incidental interactions that give life its spontaneity and spice. But we’ve also been denied shared experiences: of going to a theater, or a gallery, or a concert, where you take in a performance or a piece of art with a group of people.

A lot of us have dealt with that absence by gathering outside by going on walks or going to the park. That’s been nourishing, but for lovers of art, it also leaves something distinctly missing.

Portland’s Third New Angle Music usually programs a variety of forward-thinking live performances with a rotating cast of musicians, composers, dancers, authors and other artists.

But for these isolated pandemic times, they’ve just begun a new program that bridges the gap between the live experiences we miss and the solo outdoors explorations possible today: it’s a series of soundwalks. You pop in a pair of headphones and take a guided sonic tour through a local park, painstakingly mixed and guided by a local composer.

“We wanted to do this to motivate people to go out into nature, but we also wanted to create a new listening experience for people,” says Director Sarah Tiedemann, Artistic Director of Third Angle New Music.

“It’s so lonely and isolated right now, that this feels really intimate,” she says. “It may look like you’re walking alone but you have another person whispering in your ear as you’re walking.”